


Breathe

by P_lutonium



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: 2x19, F/F, Manhell doesn't exist, Strong women supporting each other, THIS NEEDED TO HAPPEN, bring back Supergirl 2k17, i can't tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-01
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-10-26 15:24:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10789383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/P_lutonium/pseuds/P_lutonium
Summary: "And they were both broken, they'd both lost their worlds, but they'd found a new one..."Or: A scene between Maggie and Kara that probably wont happen but should.





	Breathe

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'd and written very quickly, very late at night. I'm sorry.

It was all too much.

Alex was the one that was missing, that was possibly dead - she wasn't, couldn't be. Deep down, Kara always believed that she would know if Alex was dead - and Kara was the one that was drowning.

From the moment she'd received that stupid phone call, she was drowning. Her lungs filled with a certain strain of dread that she'd only felt once before, when she'd been bundled into a pod and forced to watch her world die. Now she was going to have to watch another world die, not a planet this time, not a whole civilization or culture, a person, a singular person, her world revolved around Alex. Alex was her Rao, her sun.

Alex was missing.

It was up to her and Maggie to find her. They owed it to her.

Kara was so far out of her depth, she was trying to paddle in the middle of the ocean. Her lungs were so heavy, her chest was so tight and she couldn't even feel her hands.

"Kara, you need to calm down," Maggie told her, not knowing Kara well enough to recognize that disguised panic that was etched into her face. It was a look that Kara had tried for years to perfect, and it seemed she'd managed to do just that.

Kara stumbled back, hitting the wall behind her with a solid thump. She grasped for her cape, the only thing safe from her strength. That's what tipped Maggie off to the onset panic attack, that's what had Maggie softening and reaching forward for the Girl of Steel - who at this moment was less Girl of Steel and more lost thirteen-year-old who had lost her world all over again.

They were in Alex's apartment, and Maggie managed to pull Kara onto the sofa. Maggie reached out for Kara, but Kara flinched away violently, shaking her head. "I don't want to hurt you," Kara whispered, looking at the red cape twisted between her hands. Now her lungs were burning, shrinking in her chest.

"Kara, speak to me, come on." Maggie was a little lost herself, one minute they'd been looking for some sort of clue, the next Kara had gone ram-rod stiff with a doe in the headlights look that had lasted only a few seconds but Maggie couldn't have missed it - she was a detective, she noticed things.

"I can't lose another world," Kara stressed. "Maggie, I can't. I can't." Kara curled into herself, trying not to close her eyes; she saw those images every day, but today she couldn't bare it.

Maggie reached out again, this time touching Karas knee through her tights. Kara didn't pull away this time. Though the touch was light it was grounding. "You won't lose her Kara. We'll find her. We'll save her."

The responding laugh was harsh and cold, entirely foreign coming from Karas' mouth. "You know, that's what my mom said? She promised that she'd save my world. She failed."

The Detective wasn't quite sure what Kara was talking about. She didn't know much about Kara's origins; except that she was Kryptonian, her cousin was Superman, and she'd fallen from the stars just like him. "Save Krypton?" Maggie knew that the planet Krypton had died, she had a passion for astrology and the knowledge was public but not widely known. She assumed that Kara had been sent away eons before it had died, and because of the science of space she'd only reached Earth, however, many years ago, and was sent to live with the Danvers when she'd arrived. Alex didn't talk much about it, Maggie never asked.

Somehow, this question seemed to sober Kara a little. Her chest was no looser, breathing was no easier, but she had something else to focus on. "My mom, she was one of the most influential judicators on Krypton. She was in charge of sentencing people to Fort Rozz, our maximum security prison ship in the Phantom Zone. And her sister, my Aunt Astra, warned her that Krypton was dying, we'd drained the planet, it was geologically unstable. But my mom wouldn't listen, she chose to let my planet live obliviously to the danger, she didn't warn anyone. She sentenced Astra to Fort Ross with her husband Non. "

It wasn't hard for Maggie to make the connection, "you were there. When Krypton died?"

"Kal-El was only a baby, he wasn't even a year old. They sent him first, in his own pod." Kara confirmed, "But I was twelve, and they sent me to protect him. But there were complications. I was sent off too late; Krypton exploded and I was in the radius of the blast wave. It knocked my pod off course and instead of arriving on Earth at the same time as Kal I was stuck in the Phantom Zone for twenty-four years. He grew up without me, and I relived the moment my planet exploded over and over again. Until my pod became unstuck and I crashed to Earth."

Maggie reached out for Kara's hands now. There were moments when it didn't matter if your hands were broken, Kara needed her, Kara didn't have Alex right now, so Kara needed her. Maggie understood now, she understood the age behind Kara's eyes. She understood why something always seemed off in the other woman sunny demeanor. This woman had literally watched her planet blow up.

"Oh, Kara," Maggie whispered, shuffling on her knees across the sofa and pulling Kara into her.

Kara crumbled.

"Alex hated me at first. I was a weird alien who barely spoke a word of English. It wasn't that I didn't know English - my pod was programmed to teach me anything I could need to know so survive on Earth - but I didn't want to let the last bit of my planet die. My language was the only thing that I had left, and I was the only one who spoke it."

The burden on Kara's shoulders was huge, and Kara felt it every day, without reprieve.

"But then she learned Kryptonian, for me. She wasn't very good to start with; human vocal chords aren't meant to make the sounds required for my language, but she tried. And she was the first person who had made an effort for me. Eliza and Jeremiah took me in, but Alex brought me home. Alex is my world."

Maggie couldn't manage anything more than a shaking smile. She didn't know what it was like to lose something on that scale; a whole civilization, her whole planet. But she knew what it was like to lose the people close to you.

"When I was fourteen, I fell in love with another girl. Her name was Eliza Wilkie." Maggie wasn't sure where the courage to tell Kara her story was coming from, but she felt like her chest was going to burst if the words didn't come out. "We used to get up to no good in her basement, watching horror movies and smoking cigarettes she'd stolen from her dad. I didn't even know what gay was, all I knew was that I needed to ask her to the valentines day dance before any of the boys did. I knew how to do it; I saved up my allowance, and I brought her the nicest card I could find. I put it in her locker, and I waited."

It was Kara's turn to bring Maggie into her, rubbing Maggie's small hands with her thumbs. "She gave that card to her father, and they called my parents, and I got home to find two black bags on the porch. Her dad had called mine, and I was kicked out. He just stood in the doorway, and my mother was in tears behind him. He told me that I was no daughter of his, and he called me things that still haunt me. I went to live with an aunt for three years until I quit school, and joined the force. It was rough, it was hard work and being female is hard enough, being gay made my life miserable. I had girlfriends, but they always broke up with me because I was too consumed with my work. I worked in Gotham on the force for five years, and I saw some horrible things. I was transferred to National City last year because my partner was killed, by the Joker."

"I didn't think that there was anyone for me. I was too damaged, I had too much baggage for anyone to love me."

Kara sucked in a breath, "until there was Alex."

"Yeah. Until Alex. The woman who marched onto my crime scene, who marched into my life, who brought me home." There was no competition, between who had gone through the most, but it didn't matter, it didn't matter because they'd both lost everything, and you couldn't take away someone else's pain because you thought yours was greater.

"And now we have to bring her home," Kara said resolutely. "We have to put aside whatever stupid reservations we have about each other, and we need to bring her home."

Maggie felt herself breaking out into a genuine smile. "We do. Come on Kara Danvers, let's go save our hero."

***

It was a week later, and their jobs had kept them apart. Kara and Maggie were taking it in turns keeping an eye on Alex, Maggie was there when Kara had to go, Kara was there when Maggie had to go.

But tonight, tonight the three of them were finally together, curled on the sofa with Alex between them whilst they pretended to watch the latest episode of Game of Thrones - Alex was watching the screen, both Maggie and Kara were watching Alex.

Alex was drooping, head lolled against the pillow positioned behind her. She was barely conscious, but Kara understood, and so did Maggie.

Then, when Alex was asleep and Kara decided to make her move, Maggie grabbed the Girl of Steel by the wrist; "Rrip non aha chahvia Kara Zor-El."

"You're not alone either Maggie." Kara smiled, heart soaring, face lit up in surprise and body humming with emotion.

Maggie drew her in for a tight hug, "stay tonight?"

And they were both broken, they'd both lost their worlds, but they'd found a new one, they found a home with Alex Danvers.

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on tumblr: http://p-lutonium.tumblr.com --> I'm accepting prompts!  
> Hope you enjoyed it, please leave a comment.


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